


Walk away with victory

by BrilliantlyHorrid



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Cloyingly sweet, Daisy gets really into sporting events, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Family Feels, Inhuman children, Make Daisy Happy, Phil secretly does too, Soccer parents, Time Jump, Too much fluff, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 14:15:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6569458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrilliantlyHorrid/pseuds/BrilliantlyHorrid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“This ref is killing me,” Daisy said, watching intently as the game resumed. “I think the other team is paying him off.”</p><p>“Daisy they’re ten.” </p><p>“Not the kids, the parents. Do you have any idea how intense they can get about kids sports these days? It’s nuts.”</p><p>“You don’t say.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Walk away with victory

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously inspired by Daisy and Phil being SO CUTE on the sidelines of the mock fight in "Spacetime," so I had to make them soccer parents. Sort of.

Phil stepped out of the SUV, peering at the field in front of him through his aviators. Shutting the car door he walked closer to the crowd that had gathered there, scanning their faces for a familiar one.

He didn’t have to look very hard.

“Are you kidding me?” Daisy yelled, tangling the fingers of one hand in her hair. She let out a loud, exasperated sigh. Phil made a face. Maybe he wasn’t expecting her to be overly covert (it wasn’t necessary, not yet) but certainly not this...loud. A whistle on the field signaled a time-out or water break or something, and he made his way over to her.

“Going well?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. Phil took off his sunglasses, looking pleasantly at the dozen other men and women gathered at the sideline. Some had brought lawn chairs or blankets to sit on, others joined Daisy in standing vigilant at the line.

The time-out ended, and the group of boys and girls in bright yellow and purple t-shirts walked back onto the field. It was a nice day, right at the beginning of fall so it still felt like summer, but wasn’t too hot. He wondered vaguely if they brought enough water on the hot days, before noting the two bottles in the bag by Daisy’s feet.

“This ref is killing me,” Daisy said, watching intently as the game resumed. “I think the other team is paying him off.”

“Daisy they’re ten,” Phil said incredulously, but Daisy shook her head.

“Not the kids, the parents. Do you have any idea how intense they can get about kids sports these days? It’s nuts.”

“You don’t say,” Phil replied flatly.

“Okay,” Daisy said, rolling her eyes, but snapping back to attention when...something happened. “What, are we just not calling offsides anymore?”

The ref, whistle in his mouth, sent Daisy a look that was a mix of annoyance and fear. Phil wondered if maybe she shouldn’t tone it down.

“Hey there,” a woman said, approaching the two of them and for a second Phil was worried _she_ was going to say something. “You know, this ref has a thing for one of the Chipmunk moms,” she remarked instead, and Daisy pursed her lips.

“I knew it.”

The woman laughed, holding out her hand. She’d been one of the lawn chair parents. “Kendra,” she said, and Daisy turned her full attention to their new friend, shaking her hand.

“Daisy,” she said, giving her a friendly smile. Kendra turned to face Coulson, who shook her hand as well.

“Phil,” he said, and the woman smiled.

“Which one is yours?” She asked, nodding her head toward the field. Phil hesitated, a bit taken aback, but Daisy didn’t miss a beat.

“Lucy, number 12,” she said, narrowing her eyes a bit as two tiny players went after the ball. “Striker with the iron foot,” she added, smirking a bit. Kendra nodded, and Phil didn’t have to be a spy to see the brief flash of understanding on her face.

“Yours?” He asked, and she looked off to the other end of the field.

“That would be the goalie who has decided to...yup, pull the grass out of the ground,” she said. She stood on her tiptoes to get a better look. “He likes braiding the longer grass,” she said to Phil before turning back to the field. “Good job Bradley baby, you do you!” She called, and Phil couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face as Kendra and Daisy laughed.

“Free spirit?” Daisy asked, and the other woman nodded enthusiastically. “Lucy too,” Daisy said warmly, and Phil got the same strange nagging feeling he got when Daisy first told him Lucy’s situation. And every time she went to see her, and the other day when she told him she kept asking for Saturday afternoons off because Lucy had told her that she was the only kid who didn’t have someone who could go to her soccer games on the weekends. So Daisy was determined not to miss a single one. If it didn’t involve up and moving the girl away from her school, away from her _life_ , Phil suspected Daisy might try to bring her to the Playground full time.

“She’s a sweet girl,” Kendra said, and Daisy nodded.

“She really is.”

And she _really_ was. Phil would be lying if he said he didn’t love having her on the base early on, while she and Daisy worked on her (thankfully, blissfully subtle) abilities; if he said he didn’t enjoy making her sandwiches or hearing her ramble on about her day in that tiny little voice. He genuinely felt guilty when the work made it so he couldn’t give her his full attention as she followed him down the halls (that she was so attached so quickly to him of all people still confused him,) talking about everything under the sun and all he could do was half-listen and throw out generic answers to questions he didn’t hear.

She was as talkative as she was friendly and affectionate and Phil could see from the moment Daisy found out that Lucy was in the system that she wasn’t going to allow any of those things to go away.

“Oh come _on_ ,” Daisy groaned as the ref indicated the ball was out of bounds. “I’m way over here and I can see better than that.”

“Have you two always lived in the area?” Kendra asked, and Phil wondered if Bradley and Lucy were classmates.

“We were nearby, but moved closer,” he said simply, and Kendra nodded.

“She must be happy to stay in the district,” she said, perking up as their team headed toward the opposite goal. Lucy kicked the ball to a teammate, who sent it sailing into the net. Their section of parents cheered, and Daisy jumped up and down yelling about ‘good teamwork.’

Phil smiled fondly. Seeing Daisy focus her intensity on something happy--even if it was a bit silly-- was a nice change, and he was beginning to regret not coming to these more often. Of course, he wasn’t exactly there just to watch the game.

“Daisy,” he said, grabbing her attention once the game resumed. She turned back, smiling, then looked at him curiously. “I didn’t want to rush you out of here, but Elena called. She said there’s something at the office she needs your help with if you can stop by.”

A small knit formed on Daisy’s brow, but she nodded. “Of course, was she in a rush?”

‘I _s it an emergency?’_

“No, she said she’ll be there all day,” he answered reassuringly. Phil nodded his head toward the field. “I hated to interrupt, it seemed like you were a little invested?” He raised an eyebrow and could have sworn he saw a ghost of a blush on her cheeks.

Daisy looked sheepishly at Kendra, glancing down the line of other parents. “Sorry, I get a little...into it,” she said, but the other woman waved it away.

“Oh, don’t worry,” she said, “we love it. The kids do too, I’m sure. It’s nice to see parents so actively excited about things like this. They can be a little…” She leaned in, dropping to a conspiratory whisper: “ _dull_. Sometimes.” Kendra shrugged apologetically, but Phil figured she was only human. Even if it was your kid, he imagined things could get a little monotonous week after week.

“Well, I should probably get going, it was nice meeting you,” she told Kendra, who gave her a friendly wave.

“See you next week!”

Daisy nodded, smiling, then turned to Phil. “And you’re all set with--”

“Of course,” he told her, slightly offended by the concerned look in her eyes. But again, it was nice to see her invested. “Do you guys have a post-game routine I should be aware of?”

“Ice cream.” Phil looked down, surprised by the little voice that had chimed in. “She always gets me ice cream after. I need another water,” she told Daisy, who grabbed one out of her bag.

“Feeling good, champ?” Daisy asked, handing her the water bottle. Lucy nodded. “Alright, Phil’s going to bring you home after the game, okay? I have to meet someone for work.”

“Okay,” she said, before running back to join her team.

“Do you really buy her ice cream after every game?” Phil asked Daisy skeptically, but she just shrugged.

“You heard the girl.”

Phil rolled his eyes, but in the back of his mind tried to remember if he had passed an ice cream place on his way from the base. Maybe there was one on the way to Lucy’s full-time caretaker’s? Daisy still stood in front of him, and Phil saw her eyeing some of the parents. Kendra had gone back to who appeared to be her husband, and was undoubtedly explaining who exactly these new, loud (well, one of them) people were.

“See you at home,” Daisy said cheerfully, placing a hand on his shoulder and planting a surprising kiss on the corner of his mouth, so far it could almost be explained away as a cheek kiss.

_Almost._

“Daisy,” Phil muttered, going for stern but landing somewhere between ‘confused’ and ‘embarrassed.’  Not far down the line, he could practically hear the group of parents come to a collective conclusion.

Seemingly satisfied, Daisy grinned before punching him lightly on the arm as she walked past. “Keep an eye on that ref,” she warned him, not looking back.

Only a little flustered, Phil half-watched the game for a little longer, pausing to join the group of parents when Kendra waved him over.

He didn’t know what Daisy was talking about, anyway. What calls could a ref even make in a kid’s soccer game that would--

Phil frowned, turning to Kendra as she pulled a little bottle of sunblock out of a bag. “Did that look out of bounds to you?”

***

“Come on, guys, defense!”

“Again?”

Phil looked up from his spot on the ground, and Daisy sighed.

“They just keep letting them through,” she explained, placing her hands on her hips. She usually tried not to get too loud, but it was much more acceptable to be an _active observer_ in middle school sports so she didn’t have to rein it in much to be way better than some of the parents. Especially when they played against one of those private school teams, whose parents were apparently expecting high school recruiters at every turn.

“It’s still one to one,” Phil reminded her, ever so reasonable. It was crap, of course. The only reason he wasn’t getting as concerned as her was because he was otherwise distracted.

Which was a good thing, she supposed. One of them had to stop Keira from eating the grass.

“ _Nope_ ,” he said, gently pulling another handful from her tiny closed fist as it approached her mouth. “Yucky.” She wasn’t having it though, and Daisy saw Phil sigh dejectedly before switching to use his left hand. He had enough control over it and the baby’s literal vice grip was strong enough that it didn’t bother her when he _carefully_ pried her hand open, but Daisy knew he didn’t like using it. Unfortunately, tiny Inhumans sometimes didn’t give you a choice.

Daisy turned her attention back to the game, eyeing Lucy’s own agitated stance. If she could, she would probably go play defense too, but she stayed put, pushing an errant curl away from her face. Daisy would _never_ use her powers to cheat at something, not unless she was on a mission and it was required, but she still admired Lucy’s ability at such a young age to resist the urge to... _intervene._

A bit guiltily, Daisy wondered if _she_ might have something to do with that, with Lucy feeling the need to prove that she didn’t need her abilities to succeed. It wasn’t a problem earlier on, but from the first game Daisy heard a whisper of ‘That’s _Quake!_ ’ as she approached the sideline, she knew that things wouldn’t be as simple anymore.

It took a few weeks for the other parents to get over it, and she figured some still weren’t very thrilled, but for the most part Daisy got along well. There would always be some sort of incident with the opposing team when they were caught unawares (one girl got so distracted seeing _Quake_ chew out the ref she got smacked in the face with the ball. Daisy felt really bad about that one, letting her take a selfie after the game,) but it wasn’t as bad as it could be. She wondered if this was how celebrity parents felt.

 _If those celebrities were all over the news for tossing criminals through the air and creating a bullet proof shield around Steve Rogers_ one time, _honestly it was nothing._

Phil certainly helped, making sure they always brought something for the group, usually snacks, often homemade. And of course the other mothers were always _so charmed_ by him, Daisy herself could probably start cussing people out and splitting the field in half and they would still get invited out after the games.

“How’s she doing?” Phil asked, lifting Keira under the armpits then settling her feet back on the ground, getting a cackle out of the toddler.

“Good, better if the ball would make its way toward the _other_ goal,” Daisy said, feeling Lucy’s frustration as their midfielder lost the ball to the other team’s aggressive offense. “Are you two having fun?” She asked, forever amused by how quickly kids latched onto Phil, even those coming in as young as Keira. She didn’t know if it was the GH serum they could sense, knowing somehow this guy was on their side, or if it was just his general...Coulson-ness. Maybe both.

“Oh sure,” he said, wincing as the baby got a grip on his nose. Hurriedly, Daisy bent down, distracting her enough to get her to let go before she broke it. “Thanks,” Coulson said, giving her a grateful look as he settled Keira into his lap, her itty bitty Hulk hands safely away from his face. Daisy winked, before something caused her to whip her head back toward the field. Without much time to spare she pushed outward with her powers, stopping the ball before it made contact with a very surprised Coulson, who had just managed to get his hands up to block the baby’s face.

Unfortunately, she also sent it flying across the field, landing somewhere off in the distance. Everything went quiet. “Shit,” she whispered under her breath before affixing a broad, apologetic smile on her face. “My bad!” Daisy called over, knowing full well the number of eyes on her in that moment. She cleared her throat. “I’ll just--yeah,” she said, beginning the long walk to retrieve the lost ball. They had spares, obviously, but she wasn’t the type to just discard other people’s belongings. Besides, it showed a respect for school property, and humility in the wake of, you know, using super powers in the middle of a kids sporting event.

Casting an abashed look in Lucy’s direction, knowing she was probably mortified, Daisy tried to seem as casual as possible, not drawing any more attention her way as the game resumed.

“My hero!” Phil called out behind her, and if they weren’t surrounded by tweens and impressionable two-year-olds, she would have flipped him off.

As it was, she continued her long trudge, aware of the sympathetic smiles from the parents who were used to her and the awkward stares of those who weren’t.

 

Jogging back to the field, Daisy made it in time to see some action close to the opposing team’s net. She felt bad for missing what could have been vital minutes of the game, but the last thing she needed was a blind item. ‘ _Instead of using her powers to thwart evil, this ethnic ‘hero’ spent her weekend thwarting a middle school’s chance at a normal soccer match,’_ or something ridiculous like that.

Stopping across the field from the other spectators, Daisy saw one of Lucy’s teammates bringing the ball closer and closer to the net. Bouncing on the balls of her feet, Daisy watched eagerly, but something across the field caught her eye. Phil was standing now, watching the game intensely. He couldn’t exactly jump up and down, not with Keira in his arms, but kept making those funny faces of his. Like he was constantly getting excited then tempering it, every time a player kicked the ball. “Dork,” Daisy muttered. “You get just as into it as I do.”

Finally one of the girls sent the over to the corner of the penalty box, right where Lucy was waiting to send it sailing into the net. The parents cheered and the whistle blew, signaling the end of the game. From her spot Daisy cheered and clapped, dropping the retrieved ball on the ground by her feet. “Atta girl!” She yelled, watching as Lucy was ceremoniously tackled by her team. Once she was out of the puppy pile she ran over to the parents and Phil.

Daisy had to laugh, the guy was practically red in the face, grinning from ear to ear as Lucy excitedly ran over to give him a quick hug (she was tall for her age, nearly as tall as he was by now, especially in cleats. Daisy would have to make fun of him about that.) She didn’t stick around, needing to join her team to shake hands with the losers and get the post-game pep talk, but Phil gave her an affectionate ruffle of her hair with his free hand before sending her back on her way.

Bending down to pick the ball up again, Daisy grinned and ran back over to the other side of the field. Mid-conversation with one of the other parents, Phil saw her head in his direction.

“Did you see that?” He asked, practically giddy.

“I saw!” Daisy answered, literally hopping the last couple of steps and dropping the soccer ball before wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Did you see that?” Phil repeated, as if he still couldn’t believe it. Daisy nodded.

“Uh huh,” she said, leaning in to press a kiss against his grinning mouth.

Neither of them were usually into the PDA, but there was something about seeing him all surrounded by Inhuman children that always got her riled up.

“You know people are taking pictures, right?” Phil asked quietly, adjusting the baby in his arms. “You might be getting some headlines tomorrow.”

Daisy considered it, seeing the “subtle” iPhones pointed in their direction. “Like what? ‘ _Quake celebrates epic soccer victory by macking on her handsome boyfriend?’_ ”

Phil blushed--he still did that, it always surprised her-- and shrugged. “ _Superhero and sidekick spotted canoodling at a teen sporting event.’”_

Daisy raised an eyebrow. “Canoodling? Okay, how about ‘ _Quake scandalizes children with blatant romantic display?’_ ” Possibly not liking that she was ignored--and slightly squished between the two of them at the moment--Keira let out a loud noise of protest that turned some heads. Phil smiled abashed and Daisy moved back half a step, brushing a hand over Keira’s hair to appease her.

“ _Daisy Johnson and family create a scene at otherwise uneventful soccer match,’”_ Phil suggested, chuckling, but Daisy froze. She tried to hide it before he noticed, but knew it was in vain. She just couldn’t help it.

That _word._

Had he used it before? In that context? He couldn’t have, she’d remember this feeling, a mix of terror-- _’If I have it it can be taken from me'_ \--and elation.

She’d always known SHIELD was her family, Phil more than anyone else, and Daisy had always loved the idea of an unconventional family unit. She’d probably scoffed at the concept of _needing_ something laid out so specifically: parents + children = family. It could be a lot of things. But the way she grew up, being _in_ that structure, having that conventional (although she supposed they still weren’t very conventional, were they?) family was jarring. It was something she never really bothered hoping for, beyond a hopeless _‘maybe, probably not, but maybe.’_

“Everything okay?” Coulson asked, a knowing but cautious look on his face. He’d always taken care not to scare her off, knowing that she sometimes had trouble letting herself be loved. He was patient and fun and to be honest she loved him so much that bringing herself to leave him and hurt him would probably kill her from guilt alone.

“Fan-freaking-tastic,” she answered, smiling broadly at him, loving the way his eyes crinkled up at the corners and his smile always looked like it threatened to be bigger than it was. They smiled at each other like that, all moony eyed and gross until a sharp tug on her hair snapped her out of it. “Ow, ow _ow,”_ she said as Keira pulled, and Daisy genuinely wondered if she was going to yank her hair out.

“Shoot,” Phil muttered, flustered as he tried to get the baby to let go. Daisy would have thought about how cute his lack of cursing was, if a stream of obscenities weren’t threatening to come out of her mouth at any second. From the corner of her eye Daisy saw Lucy approach and pause, probably taking in (and being mortified by) the ridiculous image in front of her: the two people who had become her guardians over the past couple years, a spy and a superhero (who were often _way_ too noisy at her games,) fumbling frantically to stop an alien(ish) baby from pulling the superhero’s hair out. All while the other _normal_ parents pretended not to watch.

Lucy probably was watching and cringing and wishing that they would cut it out, and Daisy would feel bad if the whole thing didn’t make her so damn happy.

(They would still stop for ice cream after, as a gesture of ‘congratulations on the game, sorry we’re embarrassing and terrible,’ and Lucy would accept it, because that’s what families did. Even the terrible and embarrassing ones.)

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is gross I disgust myself.


End file.
